An early post on the blog put forward the idea that information, more than matter and energy, was responsible for the utility of objects. Recognizing the separation of information from these more traditional "stuff" delineators makes for new, and exciting opportunities for manufacturers. One of the fundamental tenets of Humblefacture is that complex order -- valuable information -- can be confered to matter without overly expensive machinery, or outrageous expenditure of energy. Moreover, because this order in the final object can at some point be described as information (a digital file, for example), this methodology of fabrication opens the door to global remix, re-purposing, and conversation, without the need to send heavy matter. This would fundamentally upset the current "developed vs developing" world structure -- designers everywhere would be able to make anything they had the wit to crystalize out of a single share idea ocean. While this might seem outrageous to product designers (I know I've gotten weird looks from my fellow IDSAers), practitioners of origami have been used to it for a while.

What is Humblefacture?

Modern manufacturing produces wondrous objects, in massive quantity, at a low price. But the costs to the environment, social stability, and economic justice are large, and often hidden. Small-scale, localized, clever manufacturing would minimize the ability for this cost hiding to continue. More importantly, local production gives the customer a bigger voice to dictate what they need and want out of products. Manufacturing should be humble to people, not the other way around. But we can't afford to backslide either - modern life demands complex technologies, and we can't make them as subsistence farmers or hunter gatherers.

Humblefacture is Dominic Muren's exploration of how to make small-scale, local, low infrastructure manufacturing that can still make the complicated objects modern life demands.